HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILDREN HAVE A POSITIVE BODY IMAGE

The link between body image and depression, low self-esteem, social anxiety, and eating disorders has been studied as a personal psychological problem for well over fifty years. Because the prevalence of eating disorders and body image based problems have skyrocketed over the last 20 years, the discussion of body image is now being looked at not strictly as a personal psychological problem, but rather an indication of a social problem. This is great news for us parents! As the body image epidemic grows culturally, we can recognize the problem and prevent it from spreading to our own children. But first, we need to recognize it in ourselves, and we need to understand what body image is.

What is body image?
Body image is defined as a person using his or her body to construct a sense of self. The image of who she is becomes psychologically constructed by how she looks, her attractiveness, her sexuality, how her body performs (athletically), or if her body is healthy. In short, body image is used as a gold standard of worth for people who are able-bodied. Are you attractive enough, thin enough, sexy enough, athletic enough, or healthy enough? I like to refer to these as sacred body-righteous standards.

They are sacred because they are believed as unquestionable truths, and righteous because the body is used to define the individual morally. If, however, an individual has the misfortune of a disease, a disfigurement, or an accident that leaves her disabled, none of the body image rules apply and the person is free to be and to love herself without condition. But if you are able-bodied, you are held to an incredibly high standard in order to feel good about your body and for it to be approved.
Once an individual internalizes and believes a body-righteous standard is important and required, he is held to the ideal and compared to it in order to define and prove his worth. When he compares himself to the able-bodied gold-standard, the difference between what he believes is ideal and his actual body creates feelings of dissatisfaction and discontent.

But if his body matches the ideal he can feel proud, a sense of power, accomplishment, and safety. Either way, someone who uses body image to define his value, sense of worth, or to construct his sense of identity is at high risk for eating disorders, as well as exercise addiction. But again, for all of this to take hold, an image of what the ideal body is must be recognized, understood, and internalized as an unquestionable “sacred” requirement.